The Ministry of Education has revealed that more than 50,000 ghost students have been identified in secondary schools during an ongoing nationwide verification exercise. The discovery has raised fresh concerns about inflated enrolment figures and the possible misuse of government resources.
How many ghost students have been found so far?
Appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok disclosed that the exercise has only covered half of the country’s secondary schools. “In secondary schools, we have found that more than 50,000 students were ghost students, and we are only at 50% of verification,” Bitok said. He added that while preliminary data from primary and junior secondary schools is still being analyzed, the problem appears most widespread in secondary institutions.
Why is there a discrepancy in student numbers?
The PS explained that the ministry relies on enrolment data from the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), school heads, and sub-county directors. However, cross-checks during the verification process revealed major inconsistencies. “We get data from NEMIS, the school heads, and sub-county directors. For secondary schools, it’s obvious that numbers are higher than what was expected,” Bitok noted.
Bitok urged Parliament and education stakeholders to provide guidance on how to address schools and officials implicated in the irregularities. “We want the committee and the other education stakeholders to help us decide what to do with this data,” he said. He further hinted that the problem may go beyond ghost students, suggesting that even non-existent schools could be part of the fraud. “I cannot confirm or deny that there could be ghost schools, but the numbers have gone down. We are dealing with a lot of data and would like to be very accurate, but in a week, we will have clear information on whether there are non-existent schools,” he added.
The verification exercise is still ongoing, with the Ministry promising more clarity once the full process is completed.
By Risper Akinyi
